• by April 14, 2004

Google today added a city and regional location targeting capability to its AdWords product that will enable advertisers to specifically target potential customers via an address-based radius feature, or by identifying latitude and longitude points. The capability is available in the United States and Canada, as well as six European countries. In addition, Google said it's debuting a customized targeting option that will allow advertisers to create their own areas; the option is offered on a global basis.

"We do believe we're opening up a new level of opportunity for local businesses and local businesses with a national presence, and it will benefit existing advertisers that want to set up local campaigns," said Sukhinder Singh, general manager of Google Search. "It lets small businesses know that there's an opportunity in online advertising, and [they can] target areas that are really relevant to them."

Previously, Google's product only allowed advertisers to target at the Designated Marketing Area (DMA) level. The newly buffed product now adds city-level targeting. In addition, the new customized targeting option enables advertisers to set a radius around their business configured either by miles or by a border. Google now offers the city-targeting and customizing options internationally. The enhancements are all included in the campaign setup interface, Google said.

The local targeting feature works something like this: A garden store owner in Heidelberg, Germany who makes deliveries up to 20 miles from his store might choose to make his business address at the center of his targeting circle and specify a radius of 20 miles. Only the prospects within that area will see the garden shop's ads. Advertisers can also create a customized area by identifying the borders of their target market. Google sets its radius targeting parameter at 20 miles and above: "There will be time to do more granular radius targeting," Singh adds.

One of the more notable aspects of Google's enhancements is that sponsor links will soon appear across the local search results page. Singh declined to say just how "soon," but hinted that they will appear in the near term.

The changes have significant implications for local sponsor links. Previously, for example, Google used the Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Now, it will look at the "explicit location that's in the user's search query," Singh explains. So, if a New York City businessperson is looking for a hotel in San Antonio, Texas, advertisers based in San Antonio will appear on the page. Local ads will continue to appear adjacent to relevant local searches and content on Google.com, as well as the Google Network of partner sites.

Google maintains that the new capabilities will allow advertisers to target their customers with greater efficiency and relevancy. The tool is built into Google's AdWords product. Commenting on the tool, Niki Scevak, analyst, Jupiter Research, said: "It's a solid improvement to advertisers--a good incremental offering, but not world-changing by any means."

"It's certainly a very good incremental addition to the offering Google has in terms of the pinpointing of that radius, and I do believe that it's certainly an improvement from the DMA regional targeting available previously," Scevak added.

The bigger impact, Scevak maintained, may surface in the geographical targeting in Europe: "The increased activity will be driven by those European countries versus increased targeting in the U.S." Advertisers in the European countries that Google's product addresses have heretofore only been able to target at a national level.

Separately, a spokesman for Google--responding to a published report that the company is weighing changes to its forthcoming Gmail email service in response to consumer privacy concerns--called the report an "overinterpretation." The report suggested that Google was considering a requirement for users to opt-in to the Gmail advertising service or allowing them to opt-out.

"We are really in the earliest phases of testing the Gmail service, and are evaluating and analyzing feedback on the widest range of variables. In the coming weeks, we'll be making more conclusions," said David Krane, a Google spokesman.